Surgical staplers, such as those used for vascular anastomosis, often include an anvil against which staples are deformed. As one example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/151,441, filed on May 20, 2002, (the “'441 application”), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, described an anastomosis stapler including a staple holder and an anvil, where that anvil is inserted through the wall of a target vessel at or in proximity to the anastomosis site. The target vessel may be a coronary artery. The anvil may be inserted, from outside the target vessel, through a pre-existing incision in the wall of the target vessel into the lumen of the target vessel. Although that incision is large enough to accommodate entry of the anvil into the lumen of the target vessel, another opening in the target vessel may be necessary to allow for sufficient fluid communication between a graft vessel and the target vessel.
The use of the same reference symbols in different figures indicates similar or identical items.